Wednesday, July 15, 2009

I went to my first show in quite a while the other day and I must say that I think the recession has hit the music industry because the crowd was pretty light. Or maybe it was just the fact I was at a death metal concert in a shitty area of downtown Portland. Only two bands worth mentioning and that is Abysmal Dawn and Abigail Williams. I basically went to see Abigail and they didn't disappoint, but it was Abysmal that surprised me.

My buddy and I were talking about how death metal can be so unimpressive live. A lot of the bands just come off as a wall of unmemorable sound that is pretty muddled and undecipherable live. Good death metal uses dynamics and actually considers songwriting instead of just resting on their unimaginable technicality laurels. After a few bands that fit into the aforementioned unforgettable category, Abysmal Dawn came out and put on a good show. Without knowing any of their songs prior I was still able to dissect what they were going for and was pretty engaged the majority of the show. Having been to quite a few shows I think this is a band who is on the cusp of doing some good things. I imagine their next album is going to make a mark in the metal world. Check out some of their stuff here.

Abigail Williams came out and like I said before did not disappoint. They play more of a black metal style with atmospheric keyboards and more emphasis on melody from the guitars. They came out to a fairly unenthusiastic Monday night crowd and soon had the limited crowd base engaged and excited. For how simplistic the guitars sound on the albums I was amazed at some of the technical riffs they had layered together to achieve their overall sound. Their drummer was insane and in the black metal style you must have a solid drummer to anchor the band and to mix up the feel of the riffs. They had good stage presence and killed it. Here are a few pictures of the band I took on my antiquated blackberry as well as a sample of my favorite song from the show. Enjoy.

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